The road to the stage has been a long one for Ardmoreite Laura Caton, starting from when she was 8 years old living in Mexico and saw her first production, “Beauty and the Beast,” which kickstarted her fascination with the acting world.
“Theater is my passion. I’ve always wanted to do theater as a kid, but it wasn’t an option for me. Watching ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ I just thought (about) how did people do what they were doing on that stage and how did they become actors?”
She continued following theater into her 20s, but the opportunities and time for her to participate were limited. In her 30s, she got married and started a family here in Oklahoma, where she was introduced to Ardmore Little Theatre. She auditioned for her first show, “Young Frankenstein,” in 2014 and hasn’t stopped since, she now has close to 20 shows under her belt and has just been cast in Monica Stolfa’s upcoming Shakespeare in the Park production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
As with most theater enthusiasts, Caton has also worked in several areas of theater production, including backstage and makeup. Now she can add the title of director to her resume, having just successfully completed her first run at the helm of “The Movie Murder Mystery Show,” for Dornick Hills Country Club.
Caton is a member of Live in Colors Studios, created by her friend Elisa Griffith.
Griffith was approached by Dornick Hills to do a production for its membership drive and she quickly accepted, but wanted Caton at the helm because she already had acted in four other murder mystery dinner theater productions through the Ardmore Parks and Recreation Department.
“Dornick Hills invited Living Color Studios to put on a murder mystery show and Elisa said we can do it, but I need Laura to (direct) because she’s done this before, being in this kind of show before,” Caton said.
The show is called “The Movie Murder Mystery Show,” and it marks Caton’s debut not only as a director, but a playwright, as well. She took cues from several sources in putting together her show, starting with the Internet.
“I went online and I searched for ideas and prompts like a front guide for murder mystery shows and the first one that showed up was The Movie Murder Mystery show,” she said. “The only thing I took from what popped up is the characters and their backgrounds and then I wrote the show according to the story that I wanted to do.”
Caton said her original script took approximately a week to write, but has since been through a few revisions that were necessary due to cast changes and actors’ preferences. What makes these murder mysteries different than others is that actors are able and encouraged to ad lib dialogue to create more interest for their individual characters. For Caton, that caused somewhat of an issue with a few of her cast members.
“I invited some people that I wanted to do the show and I’m so fortunate they said yes,” she said of her hand-picked cast of nine. “Most of the show was supposed to be ad libbed. For the purpose of being my first time directing, I knew some of my actors weren’t as comfortable with it, so I wrote lines for them.”
“It was very stressful. Being a director has been one of the most difficult jobs ever, but it’s also one of the most rewarding because you can see the vision of the show from the (beginning) and see it grow to being a complete show.”
There are always challenges in putting on a production, which Caton knows from her experience as an actor. But being the director means it’s now her job to solve the problems that arise. During the run of rehearsals, three of the original actors in the show had to drop out for one reason or another. And because, in some cases, no one else was available to step in, Caton had to get creative and do script rewrites on the fly.
“For different reasons and circumstances, I had to shift characters and actors (around) because three of them couldn’t do the show. I had to revise my vision of how I wanted the show to be, and I had to re-envision the show and the different characters,” she said. “I’m very proud of all my actors. They did a great job of bringing their own personalities to their characters. I didn’t typecast them, but I did give them the freedom to embellish their characters and they all did a great job.”
Caton’s cast included: Justin Carney as Damien Stone, LaTonya N’Kere as Carmen Gettit, Anna Flatt as Marilyn Meadows, Rodney Graham as Maddox Crow, Heather Kasinger as Carrie Colby, Chance Myers as Lewelyn Felis, Carson Timmons as Jaymes, Gina Quary as Debbie Dior, and Nathanael Durbin as Grover.
Instead of breaking her show down in acts, Caton instead wrote chapters, and combined them into two main sections. The first section before the dinner break included the introduction and development of the characters, and then the murder. After dinner came the “whodunit” part where the characters themselves, along with the audience, tried to figure out who the killer is. During another short break, guests made their deductions and picked the villain, followed by the reveal.
All in all, Caton was more than happy with the final outcome of her efforts, calling the performance night “flawless” and loads of fun.
“There’s happy moments and there’s sad moments. I just like to surround myself with people who challenge me, not to bring me problems but who say ‘What else can we do to make things better for for the show or for the characters?’” she said. “You need to find people who match your energy and your passion for it, otherwise it’s not going to work.”
As far as direction goes, Caton might very well be ready to take another crack at it, if the opportunity arises.
“I wasn’t looking to do it, but now that I was given the chance, I did find a passion for doing it, just to bring a story to life and see it on the stage.”
* Live in Color Studios has created an extension of its business called Jester Entertainment, dedicated to delivering top-tier entertainment experiences. Find out more on Facebook.